UP FRONT
We Are At War!
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Readers may be puzzled by two items in this issue of
Play Meter : The news story that Play Meter and its
partner Conference Management Corporation are
suing AGMA (the manufacturers' association) and
AVMDA (the distributors' association) and their
directors for the obvious attempt to destroy
Amusement Operators Expo 1984 (March 9-11) by
boycotting the AOE and staging a rival show of their
own (ASI) in the same city three weeks earlier; and, a
two page ad announcing the ASI show.
Play Meter is at war. The large manufacturers have
been arrogant and high-handed in walking over little
people in our industry just once too often, and unless
some compromise between AOE and ASI is worked
out, AGMA and AVMDA may find themselves facing
an injunction that will shut down their 1984 show, and
other relief that could substantially change the
business practices of many game manufacturers and
sellers.
It is certainly not the purpose of this publication to
take any steps that would hurt or discredit either the
manufacturers' association or the distributors '
association . However, when any association, body,
group, or individual deliberately seeks to injure Play
Meter magazine or Amusement Operators Expo, we
are honor bound to take steps to protect ourselves.
The individuals who control AGMA are attempting to
destroy the AOE and eventually Play Meter itself, out
of their own greed and hunger for industry
domination. The task before us now is to defend
ourselves against those who seek to destroy us.
Through the years we have battled successfully
against the oppressive tactics of manufacturers. This
time around they have combined all of their forces
and are attacking us-as a group. As always, we will
fight hard against the selfish interests that have
exploited the nation' s operators and severely stunted
the growth of the entire industry.
The AOE was founded in the same spirit that Play
Meter was founded-with the operator first and
foremost in mind . Through the years, Play Meter has
distinguished itself from other industry publications
by being operator-oriented as opposed to being
advertiser/manufacturer oriented. Play Meter's main
objective remains to look out for the operator while
other industry magazines continue to look out for the
manufacturer.
Much like the publication itself, AOE owes its
success to the support of operators. Both Play Meter
and AOE survived their early years only because of
the overwhelming support of operators. In fact, in
1981 most of the maJor manufacturers chose not to
exhibit at AOE on the assumption that a springtim e
exposition geared toward the operator would never
succeed. They were wrong. Beca use of operator
support, AOE ha s flourished. Our allegiance,
therefore, has been and always will bea to the
operating segment of America .
AOE was founded by Play Meter on the premise of
sponsoring a national trade show to benefit the
operator as much as possible. With that simple
approach, we carefully nurtured and raised AOE to
what it is today. Now the manufacturers want to
capitalize on our years of struggle and hard work
under the guise of the recently formed association.
Simply put, they want to steal AOE .
We have no quarrel with the manufacturers
sponsoring a show of their own . In fact, we welcome
the competition. But we ask any and all fair-minded
people in this industry to answer these questions. If
AGMA is not trying to stea l AOE from Play Meter and,
by extension, the operators, then (1) Why did AGMA
schedule its own show in the very same city only three
weeks before AOE and then contend there is only
room for one springtime show? (2) Why have AGMA
members purposely disparaged last year's AOE, when
by their own accounts, the show was a success? (3)
Why have AGMA members perpetrated the lie that if
enough AGMA members pulled out of AOE , the
show would be cancelled on the assumption that the
manufacturers are the show?
Because we will defend AOE , even to the extent of
taking legal action against some of our major
advertisers , a number of manufacturers have
withdrawn their advertising in Play Meter. And that,
too, is unfair. We w ill deal strongly with the boycott s.
As the industry's medium for communications
among all levels of the industry, Play Meter will not
use its advertising policies to discriminate against any
legitimate spokesman. So we have accepted and are
running an advertisement on the ASI show. But we ' ll
be seeing its sponsors in court and we expect to see
you at AOE '84 . Our plans for AOE '84 promise to
make it the most dynamic show in the indu stry . We
have expanded our seminar program, have added a
used equipment auction , and will have more than
40,000 net square feet of exhibits . But most
importantly, we expect over 8,000 operators.
Thank you in advance for your support.
Ralph C. Lally II
Editor and Publisher